take by surprise

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Finally the rebels retreated, and Michelson discovered that his opponents meant to take by surprise the Fort of Ufa.

From Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian, Hungarian by Sienkiewicz, Henryk

Be set down for a fool, a lazy rascal and a fop, and it is easy enough to take by surprise those who think they have the whip-hand of you.

From Treasure of Kings Being the Story of the Discovery of the \"Big Fish,\" or the Quest of the Greater Treasure of the Incas of Peru. by Gilson, Charles

I expect to take by surprise a newly-married pair in their honeymoon, and I find a state of things here which I should never have supposed possible.

From Success and How He Won It by Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)

He then prepared for a bold and sudden movement, which should take by surprise one flank of our army.

From Three Years in the Sixth Corps A Concise Narrative of Events in the Army of the Potomac, from 1861 to the Close of the Rebellion, April, 1865 by Stevens, George T.

One day he will suddenly start off to take by surprise the garrisons of Potsdam and of Rinfueld; he gives the order for boots and saddles, which naturally leads to innumerable accidents.

From The Schemes of the Kaiser by Adam, Juliette